By In the final episode of The Europol Podcast season two, we discover seven ways to make the world safer, hearing from Europol’s Head of the Operational Analysis Centre, Julia; crimes against children Investigator, Danny; and Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director.
Episode eight of the podcast strays from the usual format where the guests talk about cases, to highlight the innovations happening at Europol and how they make investigations more effective.
Speaking on the expansion of Europol under the direction of Catherine De Bolle, who joined the organization in 2018, we learn about the establishment of the Drug Unit, the European Economic and Financial Crime Centre (EFECC), and the creation of Europol’s Innovation Lab, a unit tasked with exploring new technologies and how they can support law enforcement investigations.
One of the projects managed by the Innovation Lab is The Europol Tool Repository, which allows law enforcement organizations across the continent to collaborate and share software and technology free of charge.
Elsewhere, we hear about crowdsourcing information to fight crime via the EU Most Wanted website, where members of the public can provide tips about any of the individuals named in the Most Wanted list anonymously, helping investigators to apprehend fugitives hiding across the globe; and Trace an Object, which is a tool for investigators to use in solving child abuse cases, when all other avenues have been explored.
Bringing the episode to a close, we discover how artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a crucial tool in keeping Europe safer, and how “Europol’s focus on AI is only going to tighten, as we need to stay on top of how it is working to see how it can support our investigations – or be exploited by organised crime.”
